REFILE-Pakistani court condemns mentally ill Briton to death for blasphemy

REFILE-Pakistani court condemns mentally ill Briton to death for blasphemy

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Last Updated: Fri, Jan 24, 2014 15:50 hrs

(Corrects age to 69 from 68 in first paragraph, deletes
repetition in paragraph 5)

By Katharine Houreld

ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Pakistan has handed a death
sentence for blasphemy to a 69-year-old Briton with a history of
mental illness, even though his lawyers were barred from the
courtroom partway through the trial, the lawyers said on Friday.

Accusations of blasphemy are surging in Pakistan, according
to an Islamabad-based think-tank, the Center for Research and
Security Studies. Many analysts see the claims as score-settling
or a front for property grabs.

The charges are hard to fight because the law does not
define what is blasphemous and presenting the evidence can
sometimes itself be considered a fresh infringement.

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Muslim-majority
Pakistan.

Muhammad Asghar from Edinburgh was sentenced to death on
Thursday, the law firm said, citing court officials in the city
of Rawalpindi, neighbouring the capital.

The firm said it was not present during the judgment because
the judge had prevented it from representing Asghar in court
since October.

He was arrested in 2010 after writing letters to a lawyer
and politician claiming to be a prophet. Though Asghar did not
post the letters, a disgruntled tenant whom he was in the
process of evicting took them to police, the law firm said.

Asghar has previously been detained under the mental health
act in Britain and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, it
added.

After the removal of the law firm, Asghar was appointed a
state counsel, who did not put his medical history in evidence
or call witnesses in his defence, and did not question a
state-appointed board that declared him sane, the firm said.

The state counsel could not immediately be reached for
comment.

The law firm asked not to be identified for fear of being
targeted by extremists. Lawyers defending those accused of
blasphemy frequently receive death threats and politicians
supporting reform of the law have been killed.

A British doctor, 72-year-old Masood Ahmad, is also in
prison in Pakistan, charged with blasphemy after a mullah used a
mobile telephone to covertly record a conversation with him in
his dispensary.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)